New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-01-16
LUXURY FOR BACHELORS.
HOW THEY ARE TEMPTED TO STAY SINGLE.
TIE DELIGHTFUL APARTMENT HOUSES BUILT FOR
THEIR EXCLUSIVE USE.

years OK The bachelor apartment house system
len years ago, with the exception of the Uni
versity building In East Washington Square
there was not single big lodging house of any
standing given over exclusively to men. Now
there are dozens Of them of all grades and sizes
from the cosy three-stOry one down some side
street. tride Bohemian. with single rooms and
entire seclusiOn and comfort, to the tall, fashion
able pile which fronts on some square or park or
avenue, full Of handsome suites and costly fur
nishings. The rich curtains and decorated walls,
the polished brass and mirrors the wealth of pic
lures in these parlors and lounging rooms carry
one back to the eXtravagances of the newest and
most expensive college halls in Cambridge and
New-Haven. But here there is o more formal
note Of luxury. the finish and precision Of a
hardening bachclorhood, solidity of personal
comfort which the gay, changing college life
misses II would in fact, be hard to find rooms
moro substantially comfortable than those In the
best bachelor apartment houses Light, warmth
aiiness. beauty, quiet, independence-one can have
Rll these at not too great expense and with
almost no personal trouble Add to these a serene
and careless life, and one has the very ideal Of
baohelOrhoOd.
There was little Of all this however, fifteen or
twenty years ago In the University building
where bachelor life had its stronghold then and
been developed. The big square marble building
with it's shortened towers, was long AGO found too
large for all its students and to help the college
treasury along, nearly half of its living rooms
were let ont to bachelor tenants. The Waverly
Place wing was shut of far possible from the
main hail. doors were cut at convenience through
tho inner walls TO make suites or barred I'D again
20 please tenants who took only single rooms
The northeast corner Of Washington Square was
then-and always will be perhaps-a choice spot
IN the city The trees and fountains in the park
gave pleasant outlook and a charming GOODNESS
during seven months Of the year. and airness and
BRIGHTNESS at least through the other five. Wash
angton Square was nearer the heart of the city
then than it is now. The New-Yorx Hotel, just
oehlnd The University. was In its palmy days. and
good restaurants and theatres were near.
The rooms. too, were fair for those DAYS All
of them Ind thick walls and high ceilings with
broad windows incrusted in heavy stone sills and
cornfces There was no running water it is true
and steam-heaters and hot-air registers were alike
unknown The rooms were warmed partly by the
sun, partly by open crate fires or stoves Coal and
gas were extras OF course. So was all but the
minimum Of service.
DELIGHTS OF WASHINGTON SQUARE LIFE
Yet the and freedom of life in the big col
lege building must have been delightful Rooms
were taken bare Of everything except the paper
left by the last tenant on the wall and were fur
nished to suit the taste or pocket book of the
owner. Once inside the hall door of either wing
one was in perfect seclusion. Tenants on one floor
scarcely knew those on another by sight. 1t was
only necessary to sport ones oak and even the
JanitOr's assistants would not break ones peace for
three days or q week. Goings and comings were
unquestioned, with no modern Office in the door
way to watch ones ms and outs Nothing could
be more unhampercd or Bohemian, and the dodgers
used to think their building sort of new-fash-
fona6 I'M cnfCo
Tar less dingy and time-worn and gray with mem
ories of the lives Of past tenants than those in
which Warrington and Pendennis wrote and tested,
and which PENS cousin Laura, for all their dust
and disarray and lack Of feminine pret,iness
found so attactivcly queer. Many journalists
and literary men have lived in the University
Building, too, from time to time. William Henry
Hurlbert had rooms there while he was editor of
The World" and was q well known figure in and
about Washington Square.
The University of the City of New York has not
grown up to the size of its big halls even now, and
bachelor apartments, chiefly as before in the two
wings are stfll to let. About forty suites-somc
of them Of two rooms and bathroom, some OF
one room and a bathroom, some Of one room merely
and an alcove-are now rented to men who have
no connection with the institution The best
suites. both in Waverly Place and Washington
Place cost 500 year. This, Of course includes
service, but not coal or gas. The other suites
rent, according to size and location, for $3.50
$500, $500 or 5000. Some small single rooms NAV
be had as low as 81 90 apiece. The anitor of the
building, as In most colleges, will do all ones
business for him, buy the coal and portion it out
supply Oil and furnish all extra services The
University Building is always well filed although
the steady march Of things uptown has left it high
and dry out of the Swim Of life and pleasure
1,io
gayety, which centres now Enthusiastically above
Madison Square. is the only fault one could well
and with the Bcnedick. o handsome bachelors
apartment house-as its name is meant perhaps
to show-wbich faces Washington Square between
Washington place and West FOurthst. The
Bencdick is certainly the bcst-known Of all these
bachelors apartment houses, and has the distinc
ton Of figuring thus on the stage at Days The
atrc, as the Windsor does among hotels. The
Bcnedfk has some forty suites, most of them Of
two large rooms and bathroom, scattered through
Six floors. All OF the rooms are heated by stean
though there Is an open CRATE in each study or
parlOr. The ceilings are high and the walls are
decorated aftcr the orthodox frieze and dado
fashion. Each man, Of course, furnishes his own
suite. There is an elevator and q double connec,
ton by tube and electric bell with the janitors
Office. The halls are airy and pretty and the
whole house has a charmingly ordered look about
II. Tho frontage on the square Is narrow, Of
course, compared WIN tndU OF tne University, Out
the whole building has the benefit OF the GOODNESS
in summer and the light in foil and winter. The
top floor, which looks far across Macdougal ST.
Is used for artists studios only.
1t happens that many Of the dodgers are college
men and, in fact one cannot help being struck by
the likeness between tho Benediclx and-fOr exam
plc-Bcck Hall at Harvard There are much the
same luxurious and elegant furnishings in the best
rooms Of both houses and much the same sort Of
pictures and trophies and brio a. brac on the walls
though one secs, Of course, In Washington Square
fewer books and foils and oars and boxing gloves
than at Harvard. The Benedck was built about
eight years ago and perhaps the first house OF
the sort here. Under the management of the pres
ent janitor Mr.. Mitchell, it his had a great sue
cess Rooms taken by the year and there is
generally sharp competition for vacant ones.
Prices may be trifle lower at the Benedck' on
account Of It's SITE Tho suites ut the front OF the